Tripped Up

A thin business line proves too narrow for
profit

By

Rodney Ho

Updated Feb. 22, 1999 1:44 p.m. ET

Julie Lewis had a dream to merge the two "greens" -- money and the environment.

A number of successful companies, from clothier Patagonia Inc. to ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., had preceded her in that quest. So, nearly a decade ago, she started a shoe company in Portland, Ore., that used recycled materials and sold to customers who bought into that environmental ethos.